IN MALTA
IN MALTA
ACTS 28:1-6
The storm hadn’t stopped Paul reaching Rome and neither would a snake.
The island on which the storm-tossed sailors found refuge was Malta—a Phoenician word which, by a strange coincidence, means “escape.” It has been suggested that Luke was aware of this correspondence when he wrote 28:1: “We recognized that the island deserved its name.” Rain and cold added to the miseries of their experiences on board ship and then in the water; so the warmth of a fire (28:2) was especially appreciated, as the historian records.
The incident of the viper’s sudden appearance from among the brushwood which Paul was helping to gather for the fire well illustrates popular opinion on the island. The first reaction was to see in the event a judgment on Paul the prisoner, recognized as such possibly by his dress, or perhaps by the chain he was still wearing. The viper, however, was shaken off his hand and as no ill-effect followed the Maltese changed their tune, and hailed him as a divinity, like the people of Lystra (14:11-12). Such is the fickleness of human opinion which oscillates with great ease between the two extremes of branding Paul a murderer and then of greeting him as a god come to earth. “The sudden reversal of opinion about Paul may be compared and contrasted with the attitude of the Lycaonians in 14:11ff., who first acclaimed him as a god, and later nearly stoned him to death” (Bruce).
Notes 28:2: “natives”: lit. barbarians, but not in the sense of uncivilized (which Maltese were not), but meaning “not speaking Greek.” Their dialect was Phoenician, which sounded to Greek ears as bar-bar, a cacophony of strange words! None the less, Luke pays tribute to their hospitable welcome. 28:4: there is an ancient tale of a murderer who escaped from a storm at sea and was shipwrecked on the North African coast, where he died from a viper’s sting. Cf. Amos 5:19. “Justice”—the Maltese natives associated Paul’s predicament, with a snake hanging on to his hand, as a piece of Nemesis which had at length caught up with him. The narrative does not specifically state that Paul was bitten, but their reaction certainly suggests this.
Thought “Hospitality is variously regarded as a ‘fine art’, a joyous privilege, an unwelcome necessity, or an opportunity for display. The New Testament writers emphasize its importance as a Christian grace and as a species of evangelistic service” (C.R. Erdman). Consider Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8; Hebrews 13:2; and 1 Peter 4:9.